LabCorp will layoff 195 workers in Spokane

LabCorp will layoff 195 workers in Spokane in the next several months as the company shifts medical laboratory work to its other locations.

The workers affected received formal notices Thursday, said Don Von Hagen, LabCorp’s vice president of corporate communications. The reductions will occur across a range of job positions, he said. After the layoffs, the company will employ about 500 people in Spokane.

LabCorp moved into the Spokane market last year with the purchase of PAML, also known as Pathology Associated Medical Laboratories. PAML had a strong presence and market share in Spokane for 60 years; it tested lab samples collected in eight states.

Laboratory Corporation Holdings of America, which is based in North Carolina, is a publicly traded medical testing company with operations in 60 countries. Amid consolidation in the medical laboratory industry and focus on cost-cutting, there was speculation that PAML’s sale to LabCorp would lead to future layoffs.

Some of the lab work currently done in Spokane will be shifted to other LabCorp facilities closer to the hospitals or clinics where the work originated, Von Hagen said.

LabCorp plans to increase the Spokane facility’s focus on toxicology testing in the future, he said. That work includes drug testing by employers and testing patients for use of illegal drugs.

LabCorp will encourage laid-off workers to apply for other open positions within the company, Von Hagen said.